Music

Where musicians stand on the Confederate flag

by Richard Howard

For some time now, the argument on whether the Confederate flag is “about heritage” or just some racist bullshit has been ominously brewing. After the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting in June, the debate boiled over and the majority of the United States has decided that, whatever it may have been in the past, it now indeed largely represents the latter. So much so, in fact, that the flag was removed from the South Carolina state capitol grounds on Friday. Other states are considering doing the same.

Long used by a large number of country and southern rock artists, the new status as flag non grata (I swear ‘flag’ is the same in Latin, I looked it up) has many quietly tucking theirs away; others, afraid to piss off their fanbase, continue to awkwardly sit on the fence. We were curious to see who was staunchly against it, who was apologizing for past use, and who couldn’t give a hoot what you think (hint: his name rhymes with ‘Bid Stock’) so we whipped up this list.